Eight non-government organisations yesterday launched a grouping, National Alliance for Election Monitoring (NAEM), with an aim to strengthen citizens' vigilance over electoral process and institutionalise democracy.
NAEM Secretary Sharmeen Murshid said, “This alliance aims at monitoring and working for credible elections in the country independently.”
She said this at a press conference organised to launch the election monitoring alliance at the National Press Club in the city.
Sharmeen further said the monitoring of polls is a must as long as politicians continue to abuse power and manipulate elections.
The organisations that joined hands with the alliance include Unnayan Shamannoy, Unnayan Dhara Trust, Nagorik Uddyog, Save the Underprivileged and Needy (SUN), Power, Participation and Research Centre (PPRC), Bangladesh Nari Progoti Sangha, Indigenous Peoples' Development Services (IDPS) and Brotee.
The alliance members said the organisations, which have experience of working on elections, women, ethnic and religious minorities and conducting surveys in remote areas, will put together strength to ensure comprehensive and systematic monitoring of the next polls.
While the nation waits for the national polls due in December this year, many reforms have been made, but many others are left out, Sharmeen said, adding “Yet, we wait to see whether this election will wipe away all the injustices and sorrows of the past.”
She further said, “The need for plural voice is a fundamental criterion of democratic environment. The emergence of this alliance will be a contribution to that environment.”
Tendency to politicise electoral observation process by some quarters made the task controversial, Sharmeen Murshid, also chief executive officer of Brotee, said, adding that criticism by media and political parties unnecessarily jeopardises the task of election monitoring.
The formation of the alliance will protect and safeguard the integrity of election observation as an objective tool for gathering vital electoral information during the polls without prejudice, she said.
To ensure neutrality of the polls monitoring, NAEM will put special focus on methods and tools, which must be scientific and statistically justified, she said, adding that gathering both qualitative and quantitative information and ensuring objective reporting, reliable data and unbiased analysis would ensure credibility of the polls observation.
Sharmeen said, “NAEM would build capacity of citizens' groups to monitor elections and thus strengthen the base for election monitoring at all levels and encourage local observation initiatives by such groups.”
The alliance will also support the Election Commission (EC) with timely and reliable information so that it can take necessary actions or corrective measures to check any wrongdoings, she added.
NAEM secretary said it will undertake long-term and continuous monitoring of all the issues linked to electoral process like voter rolls, demarcation of the constituency, proportion of polling centers to voter population, adequacy of logistics, behaviour of political parties, enforcement of rules and regulations, disenfranchisement of voters, especially the vulnerable, and monitor violence.
Asked about the recently held local government elections, Sharmeen Murshid said it was safe and neutral and voters' turnout rate was high. “We want such an election, but the challenge for the EC will be to ensure such an environment without emergency.”
Zakir Hossain of Nagorik Uddyog, Sanjeeb Drong of IDPS, Ziauddin of PPRC, Waliul Islam of Unnayan Shamannay, Aminur Rasul of Unnayan Dhara Trust, Nizamuddin Anan of SUN and Abdullah Al Hatun of Brotee were also present.